R
raffles
Guest
Hi, am filling out the self-assess form for first time and have a couple of questions.
According to www.revenue.ie, the first 5,210 euro of earnings is exempt every year. Yet every time there is a budget, people seem to comment on people on the minimum wage being taken out of the tax net. A typical minimum wage salary would be around 15K p.a.(7.50 approx per hour X 40 hours = 300 per week = 15,000 p.a.).
Am I missing something? The above is a difference of 10,000 or so.
Also, if someone was unemployed for most of the year (let's say 11 months) and becomes self-employed (earning, say, 1,000 euro for the remining month in the year). Unemployment Benefit for 11 months would equate to 8,000 euro p.a. approx. Add in the extra 1,000 and you get a total of 9,000 for the year. UB is taxable - if the cut-off point is 5,210, then the person will end up paying 20% tax on the difference between 9,000 and 5,210 (in other words, approx 700 euro or so).
Surely this is a mistake? That would make one worse off than the person who remained on UB.
I realise you can claim against rent payments, medical expenses etc. However, hardly any of these apply to me.
Am I reading the above wrong? My earnings for the year were tiny (less than a person on UB would receive). Will I have a tax bill of some consequence or have I got things wrong?
Thanks in advance
According to www.revenue.ie, the first 5,210 euro of earnings is exempt every year. Yet every time there is a budget, people seem to comment on people on the minimum wage being taken out of the tax net. A typical minimum wage salary would be around 15K p.a.(7.50 approx per hour X 40 hours = 300 per week = 15,000 p.a.).
Am I missing something? The above is a difference of 10,000 or so.
Also, if someone was unemployed for most of the year (let's say 11 months) and becomes self-employed (earning, say, 1,000 euro for the remining month in the year). Unemployment Benefit for 11 months would equate to 8,000 euro p.a. approx. Add in the extra 1,000 and you get a total of 9,000 for the year. UB is taxable - if the cut-off point is 5,210, then the person will end up paying 20% tax on the difference between 9,000 and 5,210 (in other words, approx 700 euro or so).
Surely this is a mistake? That would make one worse off than the person who remained on UB.
I realise you can claim against rent payments, medical expenses etc. However, hardly any of these apply to me.
Am I reading the above wrong? My earnings for the year were tiny (less than a person on UB would receive). Will I have a tax bill of some consequence or have I got things wrong?
Thanks in advance